Chapter 949 – 949. Savior Of The Academy
“Huu…?”
Kales’s eyelids fluttered open. But her eyes were still hazy with sleep.
“Daehyun-ah….”
Kales called out someone’s name and kissed my lips. The soft, plump sensation of her lips made me feel good. Our lips rubbed together before naturally parting. A sticky, saliva-coated tongue entered my mouth.
Kales’s tongue was more aggressive than I expected. It sucked on my tongue, swirling around my mouth. I responded just as actively. At the same time, my hands slowly massaged Kales’s chest. Her chest, larger than my hands, was full of elasticity. I wanted to take off her clothes and touch her bare chest right away, but….
“Huuuuh?!”
Kales’s eyes, which had been clouded with sleep, widened. Her blurry eyes sharpened, regaining their rationality.
Startled, Kales straightened her back and fell to the side. I didn’t bother to grab her. I also let go of the hand that had been touching her chest. Her eyes darted around. She was incredibly flustered.
“T-that… I-I’m sorry. I think I was just mistaken in my sleep.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I was also a little mistaken in my sleep….”
“Can we pretend that just didn’t happen? Everyone makes mistakes… and if this gets out, it’ll be a problem… right?”
Kales seemed to be rambling, as if she hadn’t fully woken up yet.
“Yes. Nothing happened. No one saw anything either.”
It was a weekday, so the train was quiet. We could have had sex here quietly without being caught.
Kales looked around and sighed. She raised her hand and ruffled her light gray hair.
“…Thank you for understanding. I must have been very tired since I just started working at the academy.”
“You’ve been busy organizing the Spirit Department recently. By the way, may I ask who Daehyun is?”
“Daehyun….”
Kales frowned, grabbing a strand of her gray hair and twisting it between her fingers.
I calmly watched her lips, waiting for her to speak. I knew it was rude. But I couldn’t help but be curious about the identity of the other man’s name coming from her lips.
In the original game, Kales was a supporting character. She appeared in the early to mid-game, but from the mid-to-late game, her appearances were rare. Her detailed circumstances were never revealed.
“I’m sorry. I asked something unnecessary.”
Seeing the atmosphere turn sour, I backed off for now.
Kales was single right now. I had confirmed it by asking her directly before. So, Daehyun was probably an old lover. It was information that would definitely help when trying to capture Kales.
“…No, it’s okay. It’s in the past, and there’s nothing I can’t talk about. Daehyun is my ex-boyfriend. You look quite similar to him, so I must have mistaken you.”
I recalled the moment I first talked to her. At that time, her favorability towards me was 50. At first, I thought it was because of my high spirit affinity, but thinking about it again, even considering that, a favorability of 50 was excessively high.
If I resembled her ex-boyfriend, then that high favorability made sense.
“Ex-boyfriend… I guess you’ve broken up now? It doesn’t seem like you dislike him, Kales-sensei….”
Kales smiled sadly.
“We had no choice but to break up.”
“No choice? That man doesn’t know what he’s missing. How could he leave such a beautiful Kales-sensei?”
“That’s not it. He was a hero… he died failing to clear a dungeon.”
“Ah….”
“Don’t make such a sad face. It’s a common story you can hear anywhere.”
I felt relieved inside.
If he was already dead, I didn’t have to worry about his influence. It was less of a hassle.
‘Rather, I should be grateful. Thanks to him, I can easily capture Kales.’
I then checked Kales’s favorability. Since it was a kiss while she was half-asleep, there was a high chance her favorability would have decreased.
『Kales’s Favorability: 67』
‘Oh.’
Her favorability had increased by 1. It meant that she didn’t dislike the kiss with me. And I had even massaged her chest.
Glance. I made eye contact with Kales. Kales smiled quietly. Perhaps Kales was just starved for a man.
***
After getting off the train, Kales and I rented a car and drove down the road. Kales took the wheel. She drove the car skillfully. The car headed towards a secluded mountain.
It was a weekday. And the reason why Kales, an academy teacher, and I were heading to the mountains alone wasn’t for a trip. This was also part of the Spirit Department’s education. It was a kind of authorized field practice.
“Aren’t you nervous?”
Kales asked.
The place we were heading to was the territory of a high-grade spirit. The purpose of this practice was to meet a high-grade spirit. Meeting a high-grade spirit, talking to it, and perhaps even making a contract was also part of the goal.
“I’m a little nervous.”
I said something I didn’t mean.
High-grade spirits.
They were different from pure low-grade spirits. They didn’t just like you because you had high spirit affinity. And they were arrogant beings with powerful strength.
But I wasn’t nervous. I had already made a contract with a top-grade spirit a long time ago. Of course, with my current strength, it was a bit much to handle a top-grade spirit.
“Do you remember what I said?”
“Yes. I remember everything, so don’t worry. I have no intention of forcing a contract with a high-grade spirit.”
“Still, you have a chance of succeeding.”
I hid my indifferent feelings. High-grade spirits, unlike low-grade spirits, demanded a lot for a contract. Depending on the spirit, it could cost over 100 billion won. And then, you could only summon them two or three times a month, or there would be contract conditions that required you to pay a certain price each time you summoned them.
‘It’s better to just use low-grade spirits.’
After about an hour, the car stopped.
Kales and I got out of the car and looked at the mountain. It was a mountain that had never been touched by human hands. The trees were so dense that it felt dark even though it was daytime.
“Before we go in, I’ll say it again. We might not meet a high-grade spirit. You don’t need to be disappointed then. Also, don’t blindly accept any contract the spirit offers. There are spirit users who have committed suicide because of bad contracts.”
“I’ve heard it enough from my family. You shouldn’t make contracts carelessly.”
“When making a contract with a high-grade spirit, you must be in control. At the very least, you shouldn’t make a contract that puts you at a disadvantage.”
Kales nagged me several times as we walked. I listened to her words, responding appropriately.
“……!!”
While walking in the mountains, I felt a sense of unease and stopped. A cold sensation ran down my back. I quickly turned my head, looking around. Darkness was all around. Because sunlight was coming through the leaves, the darkness was even more visible.
“Kales-sensei! This is…!”
“Calm down. As I said before, we’ve entered the territory of the Dark Centipede. The fact that it hasn’t attacked us means it has acknowledged us as guests.”
“That’s because Kales-sensei is the Dark Centipede’s contractor.”
“No. The Dark Centipede doesn’t act docile just because it’s me. It must be in a particularly good mood today, or it likes you.”
I stepped on the darkness. It felt like mud. It stuck to my feet, feeling sticky. It felt like my foot would sink into the ground if I let my guard down.
Scritch-scritch.
I heard something crawling on the ground. I looked down. I couldn’t see anything because of the darkness.
‘Spirit Eye.’
My eyes turned golden. As expected, the Spirit Eye pierced through the darkness. Small, insect-like spirits were crawling in the darkness.
‘Low-grade spirits… no, they’re like fragments of spirits that haven’t even become low-grade spirits.’
They didn’t have a self. They were no different from insects, just like their appearance.
As we continued walking, we soon discovered a pitch-black darkness standing proudly even though it was daytime. The darkness was in the shape of a giant centipede.
The Dark Centipede.
A high-grade spirit of darkness that had ruled this mountain for over 200 years.
The giant dark centipede, wrapped around a tree, shone its red eyes and looked at Kales and me.
“It’s been a while, Kales. You haven’t summoned me at all lately. Are you not giving me a chance to eat humans anymore?”
The Dark Centipede spoke. Its voice was low and sounded like a machine.
“I’m glad you seem to be doing well, Dark Centipede. What kind of whim is this? You didn’t like eating humans, did you?”
“That’s right. But lately, I keep thinking about the taste of human flesh. Hehehe.”
I recalled what Kales had told me while climbing the mountain. The Dark Centipede, a high-grade spirit of darkness, had a hobby of scaring humans.
“Kales. Let me ask you directly. Is the human behind you the meat you’re offering me? He smells very fragrant. He looks delicious. My mouth is watering.”
The Dark Centipede moved. The sight of its dozens of hard, thin centipede legs moving caused an instinctive sense of disgust. The Dark Centipede’s red eyes were fixed on me, not moving.
“You’re still bad at jokes.”
“I’m not good at jokes. When are you going to introduce the human behind you?”
“Are you interested?”
“His spirit affinity is even better than an elf’s. Such humans are rare.”
“His name is Seong Yujin. He’s a student I’m teaching.”
“A student you’re teaching? Like a disciple… You have a good disciple.”
The Dark Centipede approached me. I bowed slightly to it.
“I’m Seong Yujin.”
“I’m the Dark Centipede. That’s what they’ve been calling me since some point. Did you come here wanting to make a contract with me?”
“Yes. I want a contract.”
“If some nobody had said that, I would have killed them… but you’re not a nobody. At least you’re qualified to make a contract with me.”
My skill, Spirit Contract (A), was activated. Something invisible connected me and the Dark Centipede. The Dark Centipede’s long antennae swayed from side to side.
I naturally learned the Dark Centipede’s requirements.
“The condition that I must summon you at least three times a week is difficult.”
“That’s a very good condition for you, isn’t it?”
“There’s also the condition that I have to offer more than 30 livestock each time I summon you. And on top of that, I have to offer one of my fingers… I only have 10 fingers.”
“Don’t they easily regenerate fingers these days? It’s a better condition than offering your wrist.”
“Even if I meet the summoning conditions, there’s still a problem. You’re saying you’ll act independently without listening to my commands… It’s as if you have no intention of making a contract at all.”
“Are you, a child, daring to give me orders?”
“If I can’t control you, Dark Centipede-nim’s power will only become a disaster. So, change the conditions. We can negotiate.”
“Hehehe… Fine. I’ll change it to at least once a week. The rest remains the same.”
I swallowed the sigh I almost let out. The Dark Centipede was trying to take the position of the superior. There was no other reasonable compromise.
I rolled my eyes and looked at Kales. Kales was looking at me with a stiff expression.
“…I wish it was a contract like Kales-sensei’s….”
“That’s unpleasant. Do you think Kales is the same as you? Your spirit affinity itself is higher than Kales’s, but Kales has the same dark energy as me. Don’t try to compare yourself to Kales.”
It must be because of Kales’s trait, Forest of Darkness (A+). Thanks to this trait, Kales was loved by dark spirits.
“…I’m sorry. I overstepped my bounds for a moment.”
I held back the rising anger. The opponent was a high-grade spirit. It wasn’t someone to take lightly. Above all, it would also harm Kales, who had arranged this meeting.
“I can’t handle Dark Centipede-nim’s contract conditions. I want to call off the contract.”
“That’s funny. You came all the way to my territory wanting a contract… and now you want to call it off? Are you mocking me?”
“Mocking? We haven’t made any contract yet. If we leave now, nothing will happen.”
“Hehehe.”
The Dark Centipede laughed lowly.
I felt a sense of foreboding. Kales must have felt the same, as she approached me.
“You don’t want to make a contract with me? But you have to pay the price for entering my territory… The price is your life!”
The Dark Centipede rushed towards me.
